Rebecca Richards and Dr. Betty Ashbaker, CPSE

A major concern among educators is the consistently high number of dropouts among Latino students. While the graduation rate has improved over the last decade, this improvement has been marginal. According to a study done in 2001, 43.4% of Hispanic students ages 16-24, born out of the country, were high school dropouts. Equally disturbing, a study performed by the Na-tional Center for Education Statistics confirmed that among Hispanic students, by their sopho-more year, 11.2% had already dropped out.

My task was to research the graduation and dropout rates of Latino students, as well as the fac-tors which contributed to either category. I began by researching census records regarding grad-uation and dropout rates, and though informative, these statistics merely tell what is happening, rather than why.

As I researched other studies, I found that although the reasons for a student dropping out of school were individual, similarities were found among these students. Among all students who dropped out, those raised by a single parent, of the lowest socioeconomic status quarter, and those whose parents received an educational level of high school or less were most likely to dropout. Furthermore, those who achieved in the lowest testing quarter in math or reading were twice as likely to dropout as those in any other quarter of test results. When asked their reason for leaving school, 82% of all students who dropped out reported that their reasons were school related- missing too many school days, they thought it would be easier to get a GED, poor grades, they did not like school, they could not keep up with schoolwork, etc.

When Latino students were polled, 80% confirmed that their reasons for leaving school were school related, and 40% responded that their decision to dropout was influenced by family-related issues: pregnancy, having to work to support a family, having to care for a family member, marriage or planning to get married, etc. Latino students also expressed additional school-related concerns to those listed by their peers of other races who had dropped out: language difficulties ranked among the most common, but the stresses of taking compulsory graduation tests, difficulty acculturating to the school environment, and a lack of connection with teachers were also common.

Finding statistics and studies on what is wrong with the educational system in regards to the graduation of Latino students were easy to find, but finding studies that indicate factors that contribute to graduation were more difficult to find. This was a challenge while performing my research, however, I was able to find some information. Studies were performed which indicated that the more vocational/technology training an at-risk student received, and the more training teachers were given to help them in the education of at-risk students, the less likely these students were to drop out.

This opportunity to research the graduation and dropout rates of Latino students has been a won-derful experience. The research I have done has given me a renewed determination to do all I can to help all of the students I teach graduate. I have gained invaluable knowledge that I know will help me as a teacher as I work with students with diverse backgrounds.